AAP, BJP trade barbs as Delhi’s Republic Day tableau is rejected
The Aam Aadmi Party leader asked why the national capital was being denied an opportunity to participate in the annual parade.
The exclusion of a tableau representing Delhi at the Republic Day parade in the national capital has sparked a political row between the Aam Aadmi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The annual Republic Day parade held at Delhi’s Kartavya Path, formerly Rajpath, includes a procession of tableaux from a certain number of states. A committee of the defence ministry decides every year on which states will get the opportunity to present their tableaux.
Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said that Delhi, being the national capital, should have its tableau in the parade every year.
“For the last so many years, the tableau of Delhi is not allowed to participate in the parade,” Kejriwal said. “What kind of politics is this? Why do they hate the people of Delhi so much? Why should the people of Delhi vote for them?”
The Assembly polls in Delhi are expected to take place in or before February. The Election Commission has not announced the schedule yet.
The BJP-led Union government had “no vision for the people” of the national capital, the former Delhi chief minister said.
“They only abuse Kejriwal,” he added. “Should we vote for them just for this? Why are the tableau and the people of Delhi being stopped from participating in the 26th January parade?”
The tableau representing Delhi had also been excluded in January 2024 along with that of Punjab, which is also ruled by the Aam Aadmi Party.
Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said that the comments by Kejriwal showed “anarchist behaviour” and asked what the Aam Aadmi Party government wanted to display in the parade. “We have not forgotten the Republic Day of 2014 when Arvind Kejriwal staged a protest,” Sachdeva said.
“I want to ask him [Kejriwal] what he wants to show [in Delhi’s tableau],” Sachdeva said. “The broken roads of Delhi or the sewer overflow where more than 60 people died... or the ‘Sheeshmahal’ that he built by looting people’s money.”
The BJP leader added that a committee decides about the participation of tableaux, but Kejriwal “wanted to do politics in this too”.
